EU should use all leverage to secure Morocco's cooperation, EU migration chief says

The EU's Migration Commissioner, Magnus Brunner, urged Morocco to cooperate on migration, citing the recent influx of 72,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta as a pressing concern.

The European Union ​should use all the leverage at ‌its ​disposal, including visa policy and trade, to secure cooperation from Morocco on migration, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said on ‌Thursday. About 72,000 migrants entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa last week, according to Spanish authorities, in one of the largest such movements into EU territory in recent ‌years. "One very important reminder from Ceuta is that to have control, we must ‌cooperate with our neighbours, of course, but as long as control depends on the goodwill of one neighbouring state, we remain,(...) vulnerable", Brunner told a European Parliament committee meeting. The EU has increasingly relied on agreements ⁠with ​North African countries to ⁠curb irregular migration, offering financial support and other incentives in exchange for tighter border controls and cooperation on ⁠returns.

Critics say the strategy leaves the bloc exposed to pressure from transit countries that can ease, ​or threaten to ease, migration controls in pursuit of political or economic concessions. Brunner said ⁠the EU needed to strengthen cooperation with third countries on returns and readmission and use all available tools ⁠to ​secure effective partnerships.

The enclave's mayor, Juan Jesus Vivas, told lawmakers that around 100 people had died during the mass border crossing and that between 3,000 and 5,000 ⁠migrants remained in Ceuta. "I reiterate this today, having seen what I have seen: Morocco is ⁠not a reliable ⁠country," he said, adding responsibility for Europe's only land border with Africa needed to be overseen by Europe, not Morocco.